YEW TKEE. 



401 



those made of Yew were esteemed superior to every other. 

 The flexibihty of this tree is such, that it was considered 

 without a rival for topiary works. Spenser terms it 

 " The eugh obedient to the bender's will." 



In the days of archery, the w^ood was in such request, 

 that not finding at home a sufficient supply for the bowyers, 

 the merchants were obliged by law to import four staves 

 of it for every ton of goods coming from places whence 

 bow-staves had formerly been brought. 



By the fifth of Edward the Fourth, it was directed 

 that every Englishman in Ireland, and Irishman dwelling 

 with Englishmen, should have an EngHsh bow of his ow^n 

 height, made of Yew, wych, hazel, ash, or awburne, 

 (supposed to be the alder). 



" Formerly,"*' says Mr. Gilpin, "the yew was what 

 the oak is now, the basis of our strength. Of it, the 

 English yeoman made his long-bow, which he vaunted 

 nobody but an Englishman could bend. In shooting, 

 he did not, as in other nations, keep his left hand steady, 

 and draw his bow with the right, but, keeping his hand 

 at rest upon the nerve, he pressed the whole weight of 

 his body into the horns^ of his bow. Hence arose the 

 Enghsh phrase of bending a botv, and the French of 

 drawing one.'' 



The Yew bow was not by any means confined to our 

 ancestors however, though the Enghsh bow could be 

 bent only by an Englishman. (Ulysses probably never 

 made the attempt). It is mentioned by Virgil, in his 

 second Georgic : 



Ityrasos taxi torquentur in arcus." 

 The yews were bent into Ityrsean bows." 

 Martyn observes in a note, that the Ityrsi w^re a 

 people of Ccelo-Syria, famous for shooting with a bow. 



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